


Flynn Rider and the Feral Princess

by BalunStormhands



Category: Tangled (2010)
Genre: Child Abuse, Feral Behavior
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-04
Updated: 2012-09-04
Packaged: 2017-11-13 12:32:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/503575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BalunStormhands/pseuds/BalunStormhands
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Mother Gothel kept Rapunzel only for the healing magic, didn't even try to raise her as her own, and Flynn Rider still showed up at the tower the day before the Lost Princess' Birthday?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flynn Rider and the Feral Princess

**Author's Note:**

> I read a news report about a child kept in a closet their whole life. What if Rapunzel had been treated that way?

Flynn Rider slammed the shutters closed, finally safe from that stupid (okay, not so stupid) horse.

"Alone at last." Flynn said as he opened the satchel and pulled out the crown. He moved to a tall thin window and held it in the light, the jewels sparkling in the light. The three huge jewels that were most prominent on the crown were amazing. He found himself counting and categorizing all the lesser jewels that encrusted the crown as well. 

He had a buyer all ready and after ditching the Stabbington brothers he was going to take their cuts as well, more then enough for his island.

Soon enough though the excitement over the crown wore off and he looked around. The room was plain, there were a couple of chairs, a closet (he'd want to check that out for valuables), a spinning wheel, a neat little kitchen (he'd rummage through that, he was beginning to get hungry), a hole in the floor (he mentally kicked himself for not walking around the tower there must be stairs and an entrance on the back side) and yards and yards what what looked to be dirty blonde hair leading under a door under the stairs. 

Flynn wandered over and gave some a tug. There as a gasp, a clank of chain and then a sweet angelic voice began to sing. He dropped the hair as it began to glow and backed away but tripped and landed on more, and found himself feeling a lot better. 

The glow faded and now he was curious. He opened the door and found a girl, with chains on her wrists, huddled in the corner whimpering. She was pulling the hair around her trying to hide in it. 

"It's okay, I won't hurt you." He crouched and held out his hand, but she whimpered and scrambled to a different corner, upsetting a small bucket that smelled of urine. 

Eugene's heart was going out to this poor child. She looked so tiny and skinny, 12-14 years-old maybe. There had been a few children in the orphanage that had been taken from their parents who had been hurting them. What had happened to them had been heartbreaking. Trying to comfort their nightmares had been awful. Parents should love their children, to hate and hurt their own children was wrong at the most fundamental level. A coal of anger began to glow in his belly, but first he knew he had to gain her trust a little so he could get her out of here. No one deserved this kind of life, no one!

Then he heard echoing steps from the hole in the floor. He closed the door, covered his mouth with a finger, she nodded and he dove under the girl's bed. 

Soon the door creaked open again and he could see the hem of a red dress and some leather shoes walk over to the spill. 

The shoes turned toward the corner of the mass of hair. 

"You are a bad girl. A messy, disgusting girl. Why do I even bother taking care of you? Get over here and clean it up!"

Flynn felt his stomach clench as the girl scrambled over and began to lick up the urine from the floor. His anger was building. How dare that mother hurt her own child this way! But he didn't know if there was a father around here somewhere, he needed to be careful. He might want to pick up the bed and slam it down on the mother, but she could get the drop on him before he got out and then he wouldn't be able to get the girl out of here. 

He had to wait just a little while and then he'd be able to get her out of here and sneak her into the orphanage, the headmistress had a heart as big as the kingdom and had been able to help some very hurt children, but they always had problems ever after. She would know how to help even this poor girl.

"Just to make sure you don't do that again, you are to get a punishment."

The girl was whimpering and moaning in fear. The mother was standing in front of the bed blocking him in and he could see the girl prostrate herself in front of the mother, hands flat on the ground between the mother's shoes, those huge green eyes full of fear looking right at him.

There was the sound of the leather belt coming down, the smack of it against the girl's bottom and a scream. "I'm a bad girl, one."

Eugene had thought the mother would stop at 25 which was the law in the kingdom, but she kept going. He put his hands out as close as he dared and laid them in front of the girls hands. He was praying she would stop at 40 which was the tradition from the Bible, but she just kept going. He was weeping as they past 100, but he couldn't avert his eyes as the girl just kept looking at him, holding his heart with her eyes.  
He was weak with relief when they stopped. Five hundred lashes, he could hardly believe it. He'd been lashed a few times, but now he was wondering how this scrap of a girl could survive this. He'd been in other kingdoms that actually killed people by lashing and it didn't take that many. 

"Sing!"

The girl began to sing, and the hair glowed and he could see her body heal before his eyes. 

"Very good, you took your punishment well. Good girl." The happiness in the girl's face ripped his heart out of his chest. It was so utterly twisted and wrong. Eugene had to help this girl!

"It's your 18th birthday tomorrow, and for taking your punishment so well ...I think I'll give you something nice, how about some hazelnut soup, your favorite?" The girl nodded and crawled up to the mother and stroked her leg like a cat. 

Eugene knew what hazelnut soup was, he had eaten enough of it himself. The poorest of the poor eat that because there was nothing else, but dirt to eat! What did this mother feed her child that made hazelnut soup a treat? She was 18!? She looked 14 tops. How could a mother do that to her own child, twisting even the body of her child like that?

Burning hate was trying to consume him, but he knew he had to get the girl to safety first, no other consideration outweighed that. He would deal with the mother personally later. Soon they heard the mother climb down the ladder and clatter down the steps.

He cautiously crawled out from under the bed. 

"Would you like to leave?"

She looked at him puzzled.

"I can take you away from here."

She didn't understand.

"If you come with me, there will be no more punishments," he gestured.

That got her attention. She held out her wrists with the shackles on them.

"I can get you out of them." Flynn the thief said confidently. They sat on the bed and he opened the satchel and put the crown to one side as he dug around for his lock picks. 

The girl was looking at the crown and gingerly picked it up. Eugene was just about to take one of her hands to start working on the lock when she plopped the crown lopsidedly on her head and gave a babyish giggle.

Eugene's mouth dropped open. "Solara?"

The girl looked at him in wide-eyed wonder, then giggled again.

He knew exactly who this girl was. 18 years old, blonde hair, green eyes. How often had he stared at the mosaic in the square? 

She was the Lost Princess.

He had found the Lost Princess, one of his childhood dreams. 

He would take her to the palace, he had no choice, praying the guards didn't kill him before he could tell them who she was.  
Tears filled his eyes, because he knew that she would never be normal, and could never be the princess she had been born to be.

* * *

Eugene Fitzherbert was trudging though the dark forest of the night. He couldn't stop. Something inside him pushed him to keep going. 

A lost child needed to be with her parents again. He had lost his own parents to the darkness of death, but he knew her parents still lived and where. She _had_ to be returned home. Nothing else mattered to him anymore. A family deserved to be together.  
He was carrying her now, she had fallen asleep long ago. He had kept going, it scared him deeply how light she was. The cloak she was wearing was the heaviest thing on her. 

How many times could his heart be broken? After he got the shackles off of her he noticed that she wasn't even wearing any clothes. It had taken so long to get her into a blue dress he had found, he was better at getting girls out of their clothes than into them. His emotions had churned during that too. Why did the kidnapper treat the princess like an animal?

It had taken so long to coax her out of the tower and he had been scared of the kidnapper coming back. She had been afraid of the light and the grass. The water of the stream fascinated her as she splashed in it. She had run with him out of the canyon. But had tired quickly. Simple things like leaves and flowers captured her attention. He had had to coax her along sometimes with a new plant to look at. 

By the time it got dark she was asleep and so he carried her, he was scared of not offering her something to eat, but the Snuggly Duckling was absolutely no place for her. 

What was worse (how did it keep getting worse?) then the lack of clothes, was how skeletally thin she was. Bad enough he could easily see her bones, the muscles on her face, but the outlines of her veins and even her organs against her skin.

So he carried her, the palace would have all kinds of food. She had to be able to live that long. She just had too. He could not stop! 

* * *

After ages he was on the road near the island. He could see the torches at the end of the bridge. And then men moving. 

"Help! Please, help us!" Eugene called. He saw more movement of men.

"Help us. I found the Lost Princess. Please, she needs help. She's in bad shape." He was begging, tears running down his cheeks. Torches are running toward them. The guards stop as they see them.

"Yes, I know, I'm Flynn Rider, I have the crown here in my satchel, I surrender myself, but that doesn't matter, we need to help the princess. Please." he begged, willing to offer them anything to get them to help her. 

The princess woke up to his shouts and everything was scaring her and she threw herself around his neck, holding on for dear life. 

"Please, she needs a doctor, and the headmistress of the orphanage, and her parents, and food, and please, please, take us to the palace, please." Eugene begged.

The guards looked at each other, they had orders to bring in all claiming to be the Lost Princess but this was Flynn Rider, yet he was begging for help like a hurt child.

A Sergeant arrived. "Please, sir. I know you want me, take me if you want but we need to get her to a doctor, look at her feet."

The guards look and they see her feet sticking out, the bones are easily seen in the torchlight and the toes look really long as the skin is drawn up so far. The sergeant gasped they looked more like his grandmother's hands then anything else.

The sergeant sends a runner ahead and has half his men surround Flynn Rider, just in case this was some bizarre trick, though Conli ended up carrying the hair to make the going easier. 

They found the seneschal, the Captain of the Guard, and many guards, the royal doctor and even the headmistress of the orphanage in the testing chamber.

"Eugene, you've been a bad boy," said the headmistress, matter-of-factly. The princess whimpered at the word 'bad.'

"I know, I'm sorry about that, but I'm not anymore." said Eugene looking down at the princess. "Please, she needs help." Eugene wanted to hand the princess off to the headmistress but she wouldn't let go. Eugene knew that the best person to help this poor child was the headmistress, he had seen her treat children that had been abused and starved, though this was the worst he had ever seen. They move to sofa and he holds her in his lap, and the princess whimpers and moans in fear as they begin to evaluate her. 

"It's okay dear, we're trying to help you. It's okay." The headmistress says in gentle, comforting tones. Eugene feels her death grip on him loosen a little.

The doctor turns toward the guards, "You better wait outside, this might get rather personal for her soon."

The Captain frowned at Flynn Rider. "The kidnapper lives in a tower that is hidden in a canyon behind a wall of vines." Eugene sketched out where the tower was, and the Captain sends men to investigate. 

The doctor and the headmistress keep trading sad significant looks and quiet comments as they examine the skeletally frail child.

"How is she still alive?" asks Eugene. "I saw her lick up her own urine and then watched as she was lashed 500 times, but she sang and her hair glowed and she was like this again."

The doctor and headmistress trade a long look.

"It sounds like some kind of magical effect, the flower her mother ingested had healing properties. She must have inherited something from that," said the royal doctor.

The doctor bared his teeth at the thought that this tiny child had had to lick up her own urine. The headmistress just shook her head, that was bad but she has seen worse, at least the princess seemed to have been kept clean, she had cleaned up one that had lived in his own feces. Guards had been sent but it was too important to try and save this child then to take revenge on the kidnapper. She knew some older orphans, out on their own now, that could deal with the kidnapper, if the guards failed.

"Can we give her something to eat, _please_? I have no idea when the last time she ate was, and I'm scared she might not last much longer." The princess is nodding off to sleep again.

They nod and the headmistress said, "Broth, She needs warm broth. Children this bad off... Well, I've ever seen anyone this far gone and still be alive, but they could only handle broth. It'll take time to build her up to solid food safely."  
The doctor gives quiet orders to the maid who runs off.

The seneschal comes in, gets some scissors and sits next to Flynn Rider on the couch as the criminal held the princess in his lap, her arms still around his neck. "Normally I would hear the story, but under the circumstances it is best to get right to the heart of the test." 

He picks up an end of the hair and snips off some. The cut off piece turns brown as does a long strand up to the sleeping princess's head. Everyone is looking back and forth, but the seneschal is biting his lip, trying to hold back the tears. 

"She is the Lost Princess, the Princess Solara," but there is no joy in his voice, just the sound of tears. How could he explain this to the royals? 

Flynn gave them a quiet rundown of everything he knew about the kidnapper, he had gotten a look at her profile as she climbed down the ladder, and the princess. It didn't take long because he just didn't know all that much. The headmistress and doctor gave a general overview of her condition. 

The seneschal left to tell the royal couple. Soon he is escorting them in. 

The queen is looking so scared to Eugene, but he nods and encourages them to come over, the doctor and headmistress get up and consult in a corner. The princess is asleep on his shoulder as he cradles her gently, holding her like her would never let go.

Tears fill the eyes of the royal couple as they see the deeply sunken cheeks, the hard outline of her bones under the thin skin of their daughter. The king holds his wife as they get close enough to see their grown up baby.

The queen falls to her knees before them. "Oh my baby, my poor baby, I'm so sorry," she weeps, her shaking hand trying to touch her baby.

The princess rouses from hearing the weeping and turns and looks at her mother. 

"My dear Solara, you're home again. You're home. We'll keep you safe."

"Ma-ma?" The queen's heart implodes as she can see the muscles move around the mouth of her daughter, the deep lines of the muscles and bones sharply outlined under the skin.

"Yes, mama. I'm your mama." A smile blooms through the tears.

The lost princess turns and puts her forehead to her mama's and with a giggle, puts her arms around her mama and holds on tight. With great wracking sobs the queen holds her abused baby for the first time in 18 years with her whole soul.

"So, Flynn Rider brings my little girl home," says the king, sitting next to the former thief.

"Not anymore. My real name is Eugene Fitzherbert." Eugene takes off the satchel and hands it to the king, "This is yours. I'm sorry for taking it."

"If stealing the crown let you find our daughter, I can forgive that. What happened?"

Eugene tells the story, as the maid comes in with a tray. 

Everyone gathers around, as the maid hands the princess, sitting on her mama's lap, a tea cup of broth. The princess just holds it, with a puzzled expression. She was fed only rarely, though she did get a bucket of water to drink. Gothel knew the hair would keep her alive, so why waste perfectly good food on her. 

The headmistress, with a very gentle look on her face took the cup, held it in her hands and showed the princess how to take a sip, smiling and making appreciative sounds, then handed it back. The princess took a sip of the rich, protein laden liquid. 

Her eyes went wide as her tastebuds screamed in need for it and sloshed the whole thing into her mouth and swallowing. After licking the cup and her fingers that had picked up the spills on the sides of her mouth, she shyly looked at the headmistress, who asked gently, "More?" holding out her hand.

"More." Solara said, tentatively holding out the cup, looking scared but hopeful. The headmistress took the cup and handed it back to the maid, though the doctor warned, "Slowly, we don't want to make her sick by feeding her too quickly."

So everyone took their time refilling the cup and handing it back to the princess who slurped it down quickly and asked "More?"

Then the guards brought in the prisoner. The kidnapper was strictly shackled, heavy chains went from collar to wrists to waist to ankles. A gag was wedged in her mouth.

The princess whimpered and moaned in fear and climbed onto Eugene for safety. Eugene nodded and said, "That's the kidnapper."

Gothel would have sneered at them, but her contempt was clear. They did not know the secret of the flower, they would gain no advantage from having their child back.They had stolen her flower and almost her future, she had destroyed their future in return.

The king nodded and ordered, "Have her secured." and the kidnapper was removed from the room to the prison.  
The queen and the headmistress and Eugene were able to calm Solara, who soon had so many cups of broth her stomach was distended. The doctor told the maid to get more, but to take her time and have the kitchen make quite a bit for the princess.

"I'm not surprised she's scared of her. She gave her a terrible lashing, but I don't understand how she survived it, much less how her singing could do anything about it."

At the word sing, Solara began to sing her special song, one of the only good things she had ever heard from her captor. Everyone stared at her in wonder at the glowing hair, and then as the gray left the queen's hair, and the pain left the headmistress' knees and back, the cuts on the doctor's fingers healed and wonder of wonders the princess herself began to glow and fill out. 

The hair had been keeping Solara alive by sheer dint of magic, but since she went weeks and months between feedings there were limits on what it could do, her body was like a perfectly formed machine without any fuel to let it run, but finally with access to protein and other molecular building blocks it could finally start doing more. 

"The healing power of the flower is still in her and it is activated by that song," said the now much younger looking doctor in an awed voice. The doctor jumped up and ran to the kitchen to override his previous orders. They needed as much broth, honey and cream as they could get as soon as possible. 

They let the princess drink as much as she could and then asked her to sing. By the time the sun was rising the princess was looking like a normal 18 year old girl. 

She was even beginning to speak in complete sentences. Her mind was strong and flexible, and with sufficient energy resources it could finally work. She may have been kept in a dark bedroom her entire life, but she was making huge strides in just hours. The headmistress had never seen anyone make strides like this before. The hair could keep her alive and functional but her body had just not been able to work properly without the needed inputs of nutrition. 

* * *

Gothel was taken to the prison heavily guarded. She was not the old woman described by the king and queen, therefore she was a witch, and as such considered very dangerous. After taking her from the royals, they took the simple expedient of knocking her out from behind by surprise so she couldn't put a spell on them. There were special instructions for dealing with the Kidnapper of the Lost Princess.

Gothel woke up as they were finishing the final bindings. She found she couldn't move, heavy iron bands secured her chest, waist and hips, more iron bands held each limb and joint, even her fingers and toes were secured. The iron felt warm, she had been unconscious for some time. She was not blindfolded nor did she feel any thing around her neck, not that it mattered, the gag was secured to the large wooden table she was secured too, as was the band across her forehead.

She was flattered they were treating her as if she was Maleficent herself. She wasn't much of a witch, she could conjure fog and a light breeze, strong enough to blow out candles and not much more, and a few other little things like that. She was gratified to see Conli blanch as she laughed through her gag.

"She's awake, sir," he called.

"Good. Time for the trial." Six men picked her and the wooden frame she was attached to up and carried her out of the prison.

The trial was perfunctory, but there was at least a show of fairness. They had a merchant from another kingdom act as judge since the king and all the local judges had to recuse themselves.

She had laughed often at those pathetic wanted posters of her in her aged form. 

Flynn Rider and others brought testimony against her. She did not bother denying what she had done or even justifying it, since they had stole her flower. She did not see the girl, though they explained she was in protective custody. Gothel considered she had her revenge, the child would never recover and the royals would never be happy again, a fitting punishment for stealing her flower.

She certainly felt fear then they threw her over the plaza balcony. But she was left hanging upside down just above the ground. She could see the people of the kingdom, all who were watching quietly. It was a little unnerving how quiet it was. She was expecting something else, but wasn't sure what. It was hard to think as all the blood rushed into her head. After a while her toes began to tingle a little as her heart worked to push blood to them.

Then the queen came into view she was dressed all in white with her crown on. The queen bent slightly and looked right into Gothel's eyes and quietly said, "I am Queen Rebecca. You stole my baby. I am going to drink your blood." 

Gothel felt the base of her spine quiver as those huge green eyes bore hate into her soul. The queen pulled out a small knife and Gothel felt the cut on the side of her throat, but it wasn't very big. She then felt the queens lips on her neck and the sucking. 

After a while the queen stopped to breathe, she felt fingers on her throat and the queen said again, "I am Queen Rebecca. You stole my baby. I am going to drink your blood." 

The fear grew in her belly. The queen began to drink again, and the crowd quietly began to chant "die, die, die, die" that matched the thudding of Gothel's heart.

Gothel didn't want to look into those hate filled eyes anymore, but there was no where else to look. 

"I am Queen Rebecca. You stole my baby. I am going to drink your blood." 

She couldn't feel her fingers and toes any more. 

"die, die, die, die" 

She was getting cold in the warm sun. 

"I am Queen Rebecca. You stole my baby. I am going to drink your blood." 

The queen was really going to do it. 

"die, die, die, die" 

Tears finally came to Gothel's eyes as she felt Death's hands on her hips, pulling her close. 

"I am Queen Rebecca. You stole my baby. I am going to drink your blood." 

"die, die, die, die" 

But the queen did not stop until every last drop was gone from the body of the kidnapper. Which was taken down, burned and the ashes scattered.

* * *

While the princess' body made huge strides as did her mind, there were some terrible snakes in her soul. The wrong look or word would send her into a corner shivering and whimpering and hiding in her hair. 

But there were good times too. Playing in the garden with her parents and Eugene. After a few weeks they took her for a walk around the kingdom and everything went fine. She even made friends with some little girls who loved to braid hair. They helped the princess so much, they would take lessons together and the friendship built up the princess, they were good to talk to, and became like sisters to the princess. 

With the enormous love of her parents, Eugene and the others the princess thrived. While the princess could never rule, the issues of the snakes were too great. But Eugene and the princess married and she became a mother, and was a good mother, and their eldest was good, kind and wise ruler. 

There were good days and bad. They loved each other and they were a happy family.


End file.
